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Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (Hardcover)

Staff Reviews

If you have a liberal on your list who's looking to understand the deep divide in our country at a foundational level--or if *you're* someone who's anticipating some difficult family conversations this holiday--you need this book. Sociologist Hochschild critically but compassionately examines the worldview of tea party conservatives in the most environmentally devastated regions of Louisiana, and then gives her analysis back to her subjects to get their take. What results is a meaningful and rare look into America's divergent realities, moralities, and more, that is not at all prescriptive, but will get you thinking about how the country might move forward. -Kea's Holiday Staff Pick, 2016

Description

One of "6 Books to Understand Trump's Win" according to the New York Times the day after the election

"This is a smart, respectful and compelling book."--The New York Times Book Review

"Satisfying... Hochschild's] analysis is overdue at a time when questions of policy and legislation and even fact have all but vanished from the public discourse."--The New York Review of Books

"Hochschild moves beyond the truism that less affluent voters who support small government and tax cuts are voting against their own economic interest."--O Magazine

In Strangers in Their Own Land, the renowned sociologist Arlie Hochschild embarks on a thought-provoking journey from her liberal hometown of Berkeley, California, deep into Louisiana bayou country--a stronghold of the conservative right. As she gets to know people who strongly oppose many of the ideas she famously champions, Hochschild nevertheless finds common ground and quickly warms to the people she meets--among them a Tea Party activist whose town has been swallowed by a sinkhole caused by a drilling accident--people whose concerns are actually ones that all Americans share: the desire for community, the embrace of family, and hopes for their children.

Strangers in Their Own Land goes beyond the commonplace liberal idea that these are people who have been duped into voting against their own interests. Instead, Hochschild finds lives ripped apart by stagnant wages, a loss of home, an elusive American dream--and political choices and views that make sense in the context of their lives. Hochschild draws on her expert knowledge of the sociology of emotion to help us understand what it feels like to live in "red" America. Along the way she finds answers to one of the crucial questions of contemporary American politics: why do the people who would seem to benefit most from "liberal" government intervention abhor the very idea?

About the Author

Arlie Russell Hochschild is one of the most influential sociologists of her generation. She is the author of nine books, including The Second Shift, The Time Bind, The Managed Heart, and The Outsourced Self. Three of her books have been named as New York Times Notable Books of the Year and her work appears in sixteen languages. The winner of the Ulysses Medal as well as Guggenheim and Mellon grants, she lives in Berkeley, California.